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Six on Saturday – Rush 2

The chilli is made, the guest room is ready, the shopping done, the fridge well stocked and the washing is on the line. That leaves me a small window of opportunity to contribute to this week’s Six on Saturday before my nephew and his girlfriend arrive to stay for a couple of days. Take a look at The Propagator’s blog and all will be revealed although it really is quite simple. The concept, wait for it, is Six …… on ……. Saturday. So here are mine.

The white lobelia in the front planters have eventually begun to flower. As an added bonus this particular shade of white appears to be white and blue, which I am not complaining about, in fact I am really quite pleased.

Next we have a dark leaved geranium that I grew from seed. It is in its second year and this is the first time it has flowered. Again I am not disappointed by the ethereal blue, especially set against the moody foliage. Looks like the molluscs have enjoyed it as well.

Now we have the deep dark Potentilla ‘Volcan’, with Festuca glauca ‘Intense Blue’ in the background. The grass is looking surprising healthy, considering it is frequently used as a cushion by Fat Ol, the ginger not-tom-anymore, from next door.

A new purchase this week is this Primula capitata ‘Noverna Deep Blue’. An impulse purchase. But then they generally are.

hmmmm . . . I still can not get used to these fancy California poppies. I know it is pretty, but the real straight orange – plain and simple – is SO perfect! When I was a kid, we used to look for the very rare ‘purple’ and ‘white’ poppies. The purple ones were small and sort of lavender. The white ones were sort of creamy tan and likewise small. Neither were particular pretty, but they were rare, sort of like four- leaf clovers might be to Irish kids. Anyway, the common California poppies were SO excellent where they covered large areas so efficiently that from a short distance, the ground seemed to be orange. On closer inspection, and while looking down from above, the dry and gravely soil below was quite visible. Those things are tough!

They are intriguing, but not very flashy. As much as I hate to admit it, the variably colored varieties are actually prettier than the white or purple ones that we used to look for in the wild. The purple is a cleaner version of lavender, with slightly larger flowers. The white one is more creamy colored rather than creamy tan, also with slightly larger flowers. The brightly colored varieties like yours are best, although not as good as the wild ones. California poppy really should be bright. When I see the varieties, I just think of them as different flowers.

Thanks Maggie, I was going to do lasagne but our oven broke at the last minute so I had to do a menu shuffle, it was a bit risky doing chilli as you never know quite how hot people think is hot, if you know what I mean. Think it worked out OK, there was no gulping water or adding extra hot sauce! 🙂

My envy of blue geraniums continues apace with your lovely specimen – do you know the name to add to my wish list? I just have pink everywhere. Those alpines would have called to me too. In fact I can almost hear them from here. And what a great ‘in flight’ shot of your hover fly friend.